Former firefighter rushed to help after deadly bus crash

ORLAND, Calif. -- Chad Arnold, 31, was painting his black dirt-track race car when he heard what sounded like an explosion. He called 911 and then headed toward the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, a couple hundred yards away.

A former firefighter, he began helping first responders at the scene of Thursday’s crash – a deadly collision between a FedEx freight truck and a charter bus filled with dozens of Los Angeles area high school students. Other neighbors also ran over to help, bringing water and blankets.

The crash occurred on the highway near the Northern California town of Orland. The impact shook nearby homes and sent a plume of black, acrid smoke billowing above the Sacramento Valley.

One of the high school students, Miles Hill, 18, who managed to escape from the burning bus, was bleeding profusely from a cut on the left side of his head, Arnold said. The hair on his arms and eyebrows was singed.

Arnold wrapped a wet towel tightly around the teenager’s head.

“He was so in shock he didn’t even feel it,” Arnold said.

The teen’s phone was in the burning bus, so Arnold called his father for him.

Gaylord Hill was getting lunch in Los Angeles when he received a call from an unknown number.

He remembers a stranger telling him, “Your son wants you to know he was involved in an accident but he’s OK.”

Hill asked to talk with his son, but the teen had trouble hearing with the bandage wrapped around his head and his ears, Arnold said.

Arnold stayed with Miles, keeping pressure on the wound and propping him up against his leg so he wouldn’t fall down and lose consciousness. Miles was airlifted to the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, where his father went to meet him.

Gaylord Hill said after getting the call from Arnold it was hours before he received an update about his son’s condition.

After the discussion with Arnold, “I panicked. I broke down. I called my wife and let her know, and then she broke down. And then we were sitting here in the house, not knowing anything. And not knowing how to get anything.”

Gaylord flew to Sacramento on Friday morning, then drove to Chico. “I had to be here.”

Miles was in critical condition at first but he’s improved since then. He has also struggled with memories of the crash, which killed five students, three adult chaperons and the two drivers of the colliding vehicles. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the crash.

“He couldn’t sleep [on Thursday night]. He woke up in a cold sweat, he said, and saw flames,” Hill said.

On Saturday, Hill said his son was feeling better.

“He’s feeling alive today. He didn’t think he was going to make it.”

When he has a chance, he plans to call Arnold back and thank him.

Twitter: @melmason

chris.megerian@latimes.com

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Times staff writer Emily Alpert Reyes in Los Angeles contributed to this report.